The thing about wisdom is that you can't really ever receive it. You can read and watch everything there is to find about sound and come away with little more than good conversation. Lessons have to be learned personally, and experience only ever happens to you when you're ready.
So it is that I feel myself finally ready to think seriously about some of the things I've seen … [Read more...]

This article is going to be a little less template, and a little more workflow. We all have our favorite plug-ins. We probably also all have plug-ins we'd love to use, but run into limitations that keep us from pulling them out of the tool box. For instance, I have a couple of plug-ins from Waves that can add some really cool sonic character when I'm designing a sound, but also … [Read more...]

I've been a bit remiss in my duty lately, and there are several people who need to be thanked for their contributions on the site. To begin, let me thank two gentlemen who contributed in May:
Randy Thom - for his thoughts on "Time" as both an element in sound design, and a work-flow issue
Jeremy Peirson - for taking the time to discuss his work on the film Looper … [Read more...]

As dynamics month comes to a close, I thought it would be fun to talk about the evolution of film sound mediums and how they impact dynamics. Since the widespread introduction of sync sound to films in the early 20th century, the technologies involved have changed quite dramatically. From experiments with wax cylinders and phonographs to magnetic tape and Dolby Digital, each … [Read more...]

Guest Contribution by: Louis-Xavier Buffoni – Software engineer at Audiokinetic
HDR in a Nutshell
HDR (“High Dynamic Range”) audio is a technique which draws its inspiration from the local adaptation method used in HDR imaging, which “attempts to maintain local contrast, while decreasing global contrast.” [1] In audio, this local/global dichotomy applies to time, and contrast … [Read more...]

Guest Contribution by Matthew Marteinsson
At first listen you can tell Mark of the Ninja is a game with a wide dynamic range. The game is all about being hidden and safe or out in the open with the danger of being seen. A very binary visual contrast between being hidden and visible informs the player clearly which state they are in. When hidden, the player has got time to … [Read more...]

We are just under two weeks into Dynamics Month here at DS and I think a fantastic site that has been dealing with this concept is GameAudioMix.com. Founded by the sagacious Rob Bridgett; this simple Tumblr blog has some excellent info about some of the most crucial aspects of game audio design. Some of the most recent posts include; overview of iZotope's Insight (which we will … [Read more...]